She Works Hard For the Money
by Forever With Me
Summary: Tea grabbed the pole to steady herself in her four inch heels.  She hated her job, especially the lustful gazes of the men in the crowd, one of them coming from Seto Kaiba.He gave Tea a smirk that told her he would never let her live this down.not songfic
1. Chapter 1

A/N-In this story, Tea has gone off to be a professional dancer. When she comes to America, however, she realizes she made a huge mistake. Coming to a new country with little money to get a new start, puts her in a tough position. She decides not to ask anybody back home for money, seeing as she wants to do this on her own. To get enough money for Julliard, she takes on the only job that provides enough money and that is available to her. Her friends have no idea what job she has taken, and she has no intention of telling them. As far as they know, she is at Julliard fulfilling her dreams. This is some information that will keep you from getting confused during the story, kind of an introduction. This will also be an Azureshipping fic, which means Seto x Tea. It is rated T, but the rating will probably be changed after a few chapters (I'm not sure yet, though). If you feel it should be rated M, just tell me. This chapter is short because I just wanted to see what people thought of it before I continued.

I don't own Yugioh.

'_Thoughts'_

Chapter 1

Tea walked off the stage, sweat covering her face. She walked to a separate room where two other girls were putting on makeup. They were talking in whispers but stopped once they realized she had entered the room. One girl finally looked her way.

"How's the crowd tonight, Tea," A blonde woman asked her as she finished putting on her bright red lipstick and began applying a magenta eye-shadow.

"Greedy as always. They almost didn't let me leave," Tea scoffed. Slowly, she took off her pink heels putting her left hand on the wall to steady herself. Her feet killed, and she sat down in a leather chair to take some of the pressure off of them.

The other woman, a young brunette with piercing chocolate eyes, turned to Tea as she ran a brush through her long hair. "That bad, huh?"

Tea simply nodded her head and closed her aqua blue eyes. Pictures of what had gone on tonight flashed through her mind. Men reaching forward in an attempt to grab her, their eyes peering into her soul, looking from her chest down to her muscled legs. She felt violated, but she needed this job for its money. Julliard was expensive, and this was good pay. By next year, she would have more than enough money to pay for the well-known dancing school. A knock on the door brought her out of her reverie, and she noticed the two girls had left.

"Great job, Tea. You're back up in ten minutes," a tall man with black hair told her. She gave her boss a perplexed look.

"I thought I was done for the night," she told him not wanting to go back out there. Anything was better than the fear that one of those lustful men would jump on the stage and take advantage of the situation.

"Sophie quit. She couldn't handle the pressure, and I need you to fill her spot. You're the best dancer, and the men always seem to enjoy your routinethe most." She sneered at the word dancer. She had always felt like a dancer, until this. If anything, he should just call her what she was, a stripper.

She opened her mouth to say something, but he left before she could. Rolling her eyes, she lazily stood up, her feet begging her to sit back down. As soon as she had enough money, she was out of here. This had to be the most degrading job; she could only hope her future school never found out. A school as famous as it was would never let her in if they knew what she had done to get the money.

Tea despondently walked over to the cracked mirror and picked up a tube of pink lipstick. _'Why did Sophie have to quit tonight? I thought she needed this job until next month when she began her new job. I know after what happened to her, she was hesitant to come back. But until her next job begins, she'll have no money.' _

Tea shook her head wishing she could just quit like Sophie, but no other available job would provide her with enough money.

She looked up as Anna, the brunette from earlier, walked in. Tea grabbed some fake eyelashes as the girl sat down.

"You were right. They're really bad tonight. One guy grabbed my leg, and I almost fell off the stage. Is there like a bachelor party tonight?" Anna asked Tea, who shrugged in reply.

"I don't know, but I do know that Sophie quit and I have to take her spot for the night." Tea strapped her shoes back on and grabbed her bunny ears, adjusting them on her head so that they wouldn't fall off too soon in her 'dance.'

"Oh, Tea, that's awful. Why'd she quit? Didn't she say she needed the money?" Anna asked. Sophie had been a good friend of Anna's, and Tea was surprised that she didn't know. Apparently, the girl hadn't told anyone she was leaving.

"I would have thought if anyone knew it would be you. Maybe it's because of what happened to her." Tea shuddered at the thought of what had happened. Sophie had been in the alley trying to get her mind off of her job. A man who had seen her routine snuck past the bouncer and found her. He tried to rape her, but luckily, the bouncer heard her screams and beat the man senseless. Sophie had cried the whole night, but she seemed better the next morning. _'Obviously, it was too much for her to handle._

"Yeah, you're probably right. I just wish she would have said goodbye," Anna replied sorrowfully. Tea shrugged her shoulders. If she was in Sophie's spot, she would just go and get as far away from this place as possible and try to forget it ever happened. There was a reason she wasn't close to any of the other strippers here, and that was because she didn't consider them real friends. When it came down to it, they were all friendly just to get through this nightmare, but they weren't the type of people she could count on. If it came down to getting the most money or keeping their jobs, they would stab each other in the back in a second. Real friends would stick together no matter what.

Tea took a deep breath and slowly let it out before walking out on stage. She took her time to get to the metal pole at the end of the walkway. She was in no hurry to do her routine. Maybe if she made a run for it, she could escape this hell hole. No. She needed the money too much. Julliard was worth it, or at least she desperately hoped it was.

She abstractedly noticed that there seemed to be more men in the crowd than when she first went out. A few of them had already started throwing dollar bills at her, the dirty bills sticking to the stage.

Cheers echoed off the wall as she grabbed the pole, the cool metal reminding her that it was time. Music vibrated loudly in her eardrums, and she tried to only concentrate on the beat, her body swaying in perfect rhythm with every note.

Her body moved around the pole, and her hips gently swayed back and forth, the audience completely captivated by her performance. A few drunken men reached for her sculpted legs, and she carefully dodged their greedy, outreached hands.

Abruptly, she let go of the pole, temporarily forgetting what she was supposed to do. She felt sick as she looked into their leering faces, their eyes never leaving her body. Anywhere on earth would be better than being here. A man towards the back out the club shouted for her to continue, and she slowly realized it was her boss. She closed her eyes, letting her body continue with the dance she had performed so many times before.

When she opened her blue eyes, salacious black eyes stared back at her. Tea realized her face was only inches apart from a man's in the audience. His eyes scanned her chest, which had started to fall out of her shirt due to her backward incline. He placed sweaty bills down her shirt, his fingers lingering on her body. Tea attempted to give him a sexy smile, but she really felt like slapping him. He had a gold band around his finger, but he obviously didn't care about the vows he had made to his wife.

Using her right foot, she pushed away the hungry audience members with her pink stiletto heel (as playfully as possible) before kicking it off. She ran her fingers over her black fishnets until she reached her other shoe. Tea gave them a mischievous smile as she slowly pulled it off, trying to remain in role for as long as possible. She had to at least try to give them a good show, if only so she could get more money.

Her audience members gave her dirty smirks, indicating they only had sex on the mind. Now that she had their full attention, she laced her fingers around the fishnets before wrenching them off. All eyes followed as she flung them into the crowd. Two men grabbed them at the same time, each holding one leg of the fishnets. Both refused to let go, yanking the legs to try to have it for themselves. A loud rip was heard as the fishnets finally gave way, both men angry that they only received part of it. A fight broke out between them, and one of the bar tenders angrily pulled them apart. Tea continued as if nothing happened.

She pushed her body against the pole, moving up and down to the steady beat. Giving her mesmerized audience an innocent smile, Tea pulled the bunny ears gently off her head. A few people began to chant. "Throw the ears. Throw the ears."

Tea shrugged and did as she was told. The bunny ears landed in the arms of a woman, who seemed just as interested in Tea as the men.

The last part of her routine went by in a blur as always. She quickly removed the rest of her clothes, hoping to get off the stage as soon as possible. Tea never liked the last part and always tried to end it as soon as possible. The first part wasn't as bad, except for seeing those leering eyes that begged for more.

The music finally ended and she left the stage. Boos echoed off the walls when the audience realized Tea was done for the night. A few even begged her boss to see her strip one more time, but he assured them that they could see her tomorrow.

Tea sighed, wishing that tomorrow would never come, but she knew it was inevitable. What she didn't know, however, was that tomorrow would be much different than tonight, and her dreams of Julliard could easily be crushed.

So how was it? Tell me in your reviews.


	2. Chapter 2

Wow, thank you for all of the reviews. I'm glad people like it so much, and I know that it's hard to imagine Tea working as a stripper, but it's all part of the plot. Also I liked to apologize for the wait. I've been really busy lately, but I finally got something typed up. It's not as long as I had hoped it would be, but at least it's something. I promise the next chapter will be up a lot sooner than this was. Thank you everyone for waiting so patiently. Oh, and I decided to keep the rating the way it is, for now. I don't think anything in this chapter would put it at an M rating. Correct me if I'm wrong.

**Chapter Two**

"_Tea, how could you? Not only did you become a stripper, but you didn't even tell us you needed help. Do you honestly believe we're that bad of friends, that we would have done nothing and sat around while you sold your body for money," Yugi demanded, tears forming in his eyes as he looked at her nearly naked body. She still wore her stripper outfit, the short skirt and shirt revealing too much skin. _

"_Yugi, you have to understand. I couldn't burden you with my problems, and what would you have done? None of you could have afforded to put me through that school, and I would never dream of asking you to try. Besides I had to grow up and figure this out myself," Tea replied. Her eyes were red and puffy from all the tears that had escaped since Yugi had found out her secret._

"_Burden me? Tea, friends don't burden each other. If someone has a problem, a true friend will help them work it out. Unless you're saying that we aren't real friends," Yugi whispered. His purple eyes gazed into her azure ones, searching for answers, but only finding emptiness. _

"_Of course we're friends. Yugi, you're my best friend." She tried reasoning with him, but he just crossed his arms. _

"_Really, then why didn't you tell me? If we're such good friends, you would have a least told me you were having some trouble finding the money to live here and not insist that everything was fine. You even told me over the phone that this was the best decision you had ever made. Tea, how can I trust you if I don't know when you're lying?" Yugi answered. Tears now freely fell from his eyes, their salty streams covering his innocent face and falling to the ground._

_Tea took in a sharp breath of air, almost choking on it, as she realized there was nothing she could say. Yugi would never understand her position. It's not like she wanted to be a stripper in order to pay her bills and everything else, but she didn't have a choice. Until her dancing career took off, she had to find some way to make money, and this was all that had been available to her._

"_I guess you don't care about our friendship…" Yugi muttered angrily, walking off before she could think of something to say._

_Tea collapsed onto the ground. Her body shook as tears gushed from her eyes. She had lost her best friend, and now nothing seemed to matter._

Tea awoke with a start. The nightmare was still fresh in her mind, and the feeling of loss weighed heavily upon her like a huge rock on her chest. She could barely breathe. It couldn't come real; she refused to lose her friends.

"They'll never have to known. I'll make sure they never find out. As soon as I have enough money, I'll quit my job and try to forget about it. Whatever happens, I can't let them find out," she reasoned with herself. And for once, she believed it.

After reassuring herself that it was just a nightmare, she fell back to sleep. The same nightmare played over and over again in her mind as she slept, her worst fears becoming a reality.

-----

Seto Kaiba was none to please with his new employees. Ever since he had taken his company to America, there had been problem after problem. The simplest tasks had taken his staff days to complete, and the deadline for his new project to be released was quickly approaching.

Maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea. It had seemed like a great opportunity at first. Having a Kaiba Corp. in America was likely to triple his profits, and if it kept expanding, he would be known around the world. Now, however, he wondered if his company was ready to come overseas. No one seemed competent enough to handle things here. He could only imagine how his company in Japan was doing with Mokuba running things until he came home. At least there was a silver lining. Mokuba was older and stronger now so that he wasn't constantly being kidnapped by the mentally insane, and that was always a plus.

Seto looked at the circular clock above his desk, its small hands reading 8 p.m., which meant it was…Oh, who cares what time it was in Japan. He was still suffering jet lag, and his headache had lasted for days. It was so severe now that just a simple thought would make his head feel like it might burst.

He stood up, stretching his long legs, which flared in pain at the sudden movement after sitting for so long. Seto flipped off the lights and began making his way to the elevator.

"Mr. Kaiba, where are you going? There's still so much left to be done by Thursday. That only gives us two days," a man yelled after his boss. "Mr. Kaiba, are you even listening to me?"

"No." Seto replied. He clicked the button for the elevator, the numbers above it slowly going up. If only it would hurry, he could barely breathe in here and his head was pounding hard enough that he was afraid it might explode.

"But, Mr. Kaiba, what are we supposed to do if we need you?" The man stood infront of him and put his hands, blocking the elevator.

"Well, you have two options. Either figure it out yourself like any person with a brain would, or call me on these new devices called a cell phone," Seto answered sarcastically. The elevator dinged open, and he shoved the stuttering man out of his way with one push. "Oh, and if you ever try to question me or stand in my way again, I'll fire you.

The elevator doors dinged shut, and Seto finally felt relieved. He'd been working non-stop for over twenty-four hours, and he just wanted to get some sleep.

He awoke to an almost completely dark room. The sun's glare had been replaced by a silvery beam cast by the moon, its light straying no more than a few inches into his room. _What time was it?_

Lazily, he looked at his alarm clock. It was exactly midnight, which meant he had been sleeping for almost four hours, the longest he had slept in awhile. Perhaps he should try to get some work done, but his headache immediately returned at the thought of it.

Well, he still hadn't had a chance to see what the city had to offer. Not that he expected too much, nor did he really care, but he wasn't tired anymore and his headache would only increase if he returned to work. Besides, Mokuba always said that fresh air would do him some good.

Seto left his room, walking to the dark city outside. It was truly beautiful at night. Bright lights with colorful decorations around them hung on the buildings illuminating the night sky and flashing in perfect rhythm with one another. Flowers hung off posts and filled the air with their sweet fragrance. Music poured from the local clubs, offering a good night on the town, one impossible for anyone to refuse, even Seto Kaiba. A few drinks to help his stress and then he could deal with work. Even though he knew he had promised to never touch alcohol, Seto realized coffee just wasn't doing much for him anymore, and he would make sure that he didn't drink enough to get drunk.

He pushed open the heavy glass doors and immediately regretted his decision. The music pounded in his ears and his headache came back with a vengeance. Seto tried his best to ignore it; he hadn't come in here for nothing. His eyes wondered toward the bar on the other side of the room. It would mean pushing past at least two hundred people to get to the other side, but he needed those drinks to drown out the noise.

Seto took a deep, calming breath before shoving his way though the dancing crowd. A wild girl with light brown hair, who looked a bit too drunk to still be standing, stood in front of him and shook her ass for all it was worth. Seto push her away, a look of disgust crossing across his cold features. She shrugged her tanned shoulders when she realized he wouldn't be a worthy dancing partner and went to dance with a tall man with blonde hair. Seto rolled his eyes and finally found his way to the bar.

"What'll it be?" the bartender, a young man with jet black hair and gray eyes, asked as he cleaned out a shot glass.

"Something to get rid of my headache," Seto answered, not really sure what all the names of the drinks were, besides beer, and he was pretty sure beer wouldn't cut it tonight.

The bartender grabbed some bottles and poured them into the glass he was just cleaning. In one swift move, he thrust the drink down to Seto and turned to the next customer.

Seto stared at the drink, unsure if he should really be doing this. He knew what alcohol did to people and he knew that it really wasn't a great fix to his headache. By morning, his head would probably feel like ten times worse, but he also knew that he wasn't just here to get rid of a headache. He was tired of being in an office day and night, dealing with the same incompetent people. Maybe it was time to find a new way to get rid of his stress.

Just as he went to drink the alcohol, a stripper came onto the stage, dressed as a sexy pirate. The audience cheered as a popular song came on. Seto tried to ignore the strip routine but turned when a top was thrown at him to and began to yell at the girl. He immediately stopped. On the stage, stood the last person he ever expected to see. Tea Gardner. And to think, he actually used to believe she was a goody two-shoes.

She continued her routine, oblivious of his presence. Slowly she removed all of her clothing to the point when she was in nothing but a thong, a bra, and shoes. He realized now would be the time to stop staring at her tanned body, but her curves were mesmerizing. His heart sped up as she began unmoving her bra, and suddenly he pictured her undressing for him in his bedroom. Roses were scattered everyone. She breathed his name as she kissed every inch of his body. He reached for…

Seto tore his gaze away from the stage. That would never happen. He had no real feelings for her, or so he repeatedly told himself.

He looked back at the stage and realized that she had stopped. After squinting his eyes, which were getting worse and worse from looking at computer screens all day, he realized she was staring directly at him. Immediately he forgot everything he had just felt for her, and realized he now knew her deepest, darkest secret. He controlled Tea Gardner. Seto smiled to himself and Tea's face grew pale.

-----

Her heart stopped the second she saw him. No, this couldn't be happening she repeatedly told herself. Of all people she could see, why did it have to be him? Sweat poured down her face and she felt as though she couldn't move. People booed at her abrupt stop, and she knew she had to continue or else she would be fired. She took one step and nearly tripped. Quickly, Tea grabbed the pole to steady herself in her four inch heels. She hated her job; especially the lustful gazes of the men in the crowd, knowing more than one of them would not be satisfied with just a dance. But she would have taken those gazes any day over the look coming from Seto Kaiba. He gave Tea a smirk that told her he would never let her live this down.


End file.
